I took a fitness test the other day and had a lot of trouble with my grip. I do know that my gloves were way to big. I did not have trouble with hoisting of the weight it was when I would attempt to switch hand over hand and the rope would begin to slip. I am a small person and hoping to get some advise on a glove that may fit tight enough for me to get some feel of the rope and advise on increasing my grip strength. Thanks

11-22-2007, 01:02 PM

SkylinePCG

I dont know how you were going about hoisting that rope, but theres a lot of technique involved in tasks like your talking about, that can make up for deficiencies in brute strength.

When you grab that rope up high, grab it so your palm is facing away from you and your thumb is pointed down. As you pull it toward you, rotate your hand so your thumb points up and your palm faces you. That will cinch the rope around your hand, making it less likely to slip.

As for building grip strength, grab a pair of same-size weight plates, start with 5's or 10's, and pinch them together for as long as you can. Your forearms and hands will hate you.

11-23-2007, 11:03 AM

flipper123

Grab a big heavy dumbell, 80-100lbs or more, in each hand.
Stand there and hold them until ya drop em, then do it again 5 times.

When you lift weights, or do pull ups, or anything with weights, wrap a small towel around the bar.
This will make the bar bigger.
Try doing lifts with a regular bar, then a big bar- you'll see how much harder it is. Amazing how much a difference the size of the bar makes. (and no, not because it's heavier:)

Good luck!

11-26-2007, 09:52 PM

jedi722

Thanks, I will try those training tips in the morning and the rope technique over the weekend when I practice.
Thanks Again

12-06-2007, 10:44 AM

irishltemt69

Quote:

Originally Posted by flipper123

When you lift weights, or do pull ups, or anything with weights, wrap a small towel around the bar.
This will make the bar bigger.
Try doing lifts with a regular bar, then a big bar- you'll see how much harder it is. Amazing how much a difference the size of the bar makes. (and no, not because it's heavier:)

Good luck!

Interesting points - I think I will give it a try too -

12-24-2007, 09:16 PM

westchester47

Grip Strength

In order to develop grip strength, which is very important for firefighters there are a variety of modalities that work, like pinching, Fat bar lifts, farmers walks and not using wraps.

Pinching : Place two weight plates together with the smooth sides facing out. Using one hand, pinch the plates together with your thumb on one side and your four fingers on the other.
Start by pinching a pair of 5-lb plates in each hand for 1 minute with your arms relaxed at your sides. Repeat the exercise once a week, increasing the duration of the hold until you reach 2 minutes, then advance to three 5-lb plates or one 5-lb plate and one 10-lb plate. Continue until you can pinch two 25-lb plates.

Fat Bar Lifts: Fat bars are weightlifting bars that are thicker than usual and are designed specifically to enhance grip strength while you perform everyday lifts such as military presses and biceps curls, Jorge, "Ninety-nine percent of gyms don’t have fat bars," I hear ya, but you can make your own by wrapping towels around a standard bar. Leave the pink ones at home please.
You can turn almost any weightlifting exercise into a fat-bar exercise, but biceps curls are the best place to start. Sprinkle fat-bar moves throughout your weekly workouts.

Farmers Walks: Grab a pair of heavy dumbbells and simply walk for one minute. Choose a weight that you can barely hold for a minute before you lose your grip. Repeat the exercise once a week, increasing the time of the hold until you reach 2 minutes, then move up in weight and go back to 1 minute.

You can actually take equipment off the truck and do some farmers walks.

Wrist Wraps. Many people use wrist wraps to augment their grip and prevent the muscles in their hands and forearms from fatiguing. Personally I believe this is a mistake, because it spoils great opportunities to increase your grip strength. Any exercise like dead lifts, rack pulls or cleans that you do without wraps will definitely develop your grip strength too.

Sledgehammers: If you can afford sledge hammers, get a 6-8pound hammer. You can add weight by welding an attachment on the hammer, or, by sliding a weight plate up the handle to the head, then attaching something to clamp it on. Now move it in all directions, and do pronation (palms down) and
supination (palms up) rotation with it. If you cant afford the hammer, use a wooden dowel and attach weights. A tree branch small enough to fit Olympic plate onto works well.

Wrist roller. Get a short piece of PVC pipe; I prefer the 2.5” stuff.
Drill a hole in the middle straight through and attach a rope or
some cable. Now you can slide it onto the pins in a power cage, or
just hold it. Attach the rope or cable to your loading pin and roll
away in all directions.

Jars. Take a jar and fill with pennies or bent nails. Put your hand inside, extend fingers, and lift the jar. Don’t lift it far; if it falls you will have a mess, and you’re going to spend valuable training time…cleaning up.

Hey man I would suggest checking out a Powerball, it will give you super grip strength, I am a firefighter as well as recreational rock climber I would suggest this over anything, I've tried alot of other methods to strengthen my grip, and this is the one, you can get some models for around $20 and it will be worth it, good luck

12-28-2007, 02:41 AM

Drjmilus

I am a fan of grippers, the things you can carry around wiith you and squeeze in the car at traffic lights.

Thanks to all, technique and gloves that were not 3 inches to long in the fingers did the trick. I did use many of your suggestions in the gym as well. I had a much much better time during the rope hoist.

03-27-2008, 12:34 AM

33Truck

NICE!
Im going to work on these!
this is a big area where I am lacking

04-07-2008, 10:13 AM

Rich Meyer

AWESOME tips

As always, variety is key. Train your forearm extensors and rotators along with your crushing and pinching grips. Use some explosive exercises along with max strength, stability (holds) and muscle endurance exercises.

Using a towel or tricep rope for pull-up holds and chinups has worked for me.

04-07-2008, 10:37 PM

JHR1985

get a dirty movie and watch it for 5 hours straight(more than one might be needed)

do that 3-7 times a week and in a month, you will notice a huge difference

04-10-2008, 05:16 PM

Rich Meyer

Quote:

Originally Posted by JHR1985

get a dirty movie and watch it for 5 hours straight(more than one might be needed)

do that 3-7 times a week and in a month, you will notice a huge difference

Not necessary. Take the garbage someplace else.

04-11-2008, 02:22 PM

Eaglemedic

Different Gloves

You may try a pair of gloves that fit correctly. There are gloves out there that have "cadet" fingers for people with shorter fingers. Also a glove like the TFG Superglove will improve the tactility of the grip and may help solve the problem along with the work outs suggest in this thread.